Display unit footing structure



Dec. 20, 1960 D. MAPSON DISPLAY UNIT FOOTING STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 22, 1959 FI G. 1.

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DISPLAY UNIT FOOTING STRUCTURE Filed Dec. 22, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Dan/m0 ps0 484 B United States Fatent Q ice 2,965,243 nIsrLAY UNIT FOOTING STRUCTURE Donald L. Mapson, La Habra Heights, Calif., assign'or to M & D Store Fixtures, Inc., a corporation of California Filed Dec. 22, 1959, Ser. N0. 861,283

6 Claims. (Cl. 211-483) This invention relates to store fixtures and is particularly useful in open shelf wall units and enclosed cabinet units provided for merchandise display.

In a widely used line of such'display equipment, various styles of units are assembled on a basic frame structure common to them all. This structure is quite simple, its principal parts being a pair of upright side posts united at top and bottom and provided with a transversely extending support footing. Two kick plates are provided on the front of said footing, the lower of these being adjacent the fioor and inset from vertical alignment with the one above.

The fioors on which these units are required to be set up for use frequently deviate from level, making shims under the footing of the unit necessary in order for the shelves thereof to be level. Considerable difiiculty is met with in providing shims under the lower kick plate of each equipment unit which will not attract attention to deviations in the floor surface and detract from the neat appearance otherwise of the equipment.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a display unit footing structure which will eliminate the necessity for employing shims under the lower kick plate thereof.

Another object is to provide such footing, the lower kick plate of which is itself adjustable into conformity with the floor surface.

A further object is to provide such a footing which is itself adapted to be leveled up to make the shelves of the unit level, subsequent to which operation the lower kick plate may be adjusted to conform approximately to the floor surface and then be rigidly united with the footing to become a load bearing part of the latter.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such a display unit footing in which the fasteners employed for adjustably uniting the lower kick plate with the footing also serve to unite adjacent sections of a multisection display cabinet, and the lower kick plate conforms quickly by gravity with the floor and is as quickly set in load bearing relation therewith by tightening said fasteners.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as well as further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic perspective view of a multiunit display cabinet embodying a preferred form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and illustrating a preferred manner in which the present invention may be incorporated with said cabinet.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2 and illustrating the manner in which the present invention may be employed not only to adjust the lower kick plates vertically but to secure together adjacent units of said cabinet.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic perspective exploded view of 2,955,243 Patented Dec. 20, 1960 the principal parts comprised in that portion of the structure of said cabinet with which the present invention is incorporated.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view illustrating the manner in which fastening means is employed in the invention to connect corresponding ends of upper and lower kick plates of the invention with the adjacent footing member thereof.

Referring specifically to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 1, a multi-unit display cabinet 10 is there illustrated which includes a plurality of individual sections 11 secured together end to end and finished with heavy plywood plates 12 secured to the exposed ends of the endmost units in the cabinet, the nearer plate 12 being shown removed in Fig. l to expose the structure of the endmost unit to which it is attached.

Each of the units 11 is built upon a basic frame 13, only the lower portion of which is shown in the exploded view of Fig. 4 because this portion of said frame includes the unit footing structure 14 of said frame in which the present invention is embodied.

The basic frame 13 is not only used in the line of equipment being described in manufacturing the more or less complex units 11 comprised in the multi-unit display cabinet 10, but is also utilized in the assembly of much less complex display units in which the shelves are not enclosed and which are referred to as a simple wall shelf unit. In the latter units less ornate end plates 15 are employed to finish the unit rather than the full length end plates 12 shown in Fig. 1.

The basic frame 13 includes a pair of posts 16 and 17 which are preferably formed of metal channels which extend from the bottom to the top of the unit built on said frame, and when the frame is assembled are connected together by a top pan 18 (Fig. 1).

The channels forming the posts 16 and 17 face each other as shown in Fig. 4 and the forward flanges 19 thereof are provided with a vertical line of shelf bracket engaging perforations 20, while near the lower ends of these posts, these flanges have special footing member engaging perforations 25. The webs of the channels of posts 16 and 17 also are provided with a pair of holes 26 near the lower ends of said posts. The lower portions of posts 16 and 17 are rigidly united by a central box channel member 27, opposite ends of which extend into the channels of posts 16 and 17 and are, bolted thereto by bolts 28 which extend through holes 26 in said posts. An angle blacket 29 is secured by a bolt 30 on top of the central channel member 27 so as to extend transversely therefrom and provide a support for a pair of superimposed wall panels 31, the lowermost panel of which alone is shown in Fig. 4 because of the truncation of this view. These panels have means (not shown) for interlocking with the posts 16 and 17 so as to unite them with the balance of the basic frame 13 when this is assembled.

The unit footing structure 14 includes the central channel member 27, the lower end portions of posts 16 and 17 and a pair of transverse footing members 32 and 33 which are made of heavy sheet metal channel construction. The members 32 and 33 are reverse duplicates of each other and each includes a flat web 34 strengthened at the upper and lower edges by interned flanges 35 and 36. Formed on inner ends of footing members 32 and 33 are a series of lugs 37 which fit into slots 25 of the post adjacent that footing member so as to unite the latter with said posts. When the footing members 32 and 33 are thus united with posts 16 and 17 and these posts are united in turn with the central channel member 27, as shown in Fig. 2, it is to be noted that the lowermost faces on all these elements including lower edges 38 of members 32 and 33 lie in a common plane P- assume As aforestated, the floor F, shown in Fig. 2, on which the unit footing structure 14 rests, is not always level and it is necessary to shim-up this structure by the use of shims 40 'which are placed between the floor F and the flat bearing surfaces in the plane P'provided on the lower portions of said footing structure 14. Plane P is thus frequently spaced upwardly from and non-parallel with the floor F.

An upper front portion of the web 34 of each of the footing members 32 and 33 extends beyond the front end of the upper flange 35 thereof to provide an upper kick plate mounting lug 41. The front end of lower flange 36 of each of these members is substantially shorter than the front end of flange 3S and a lower kick plateattach-ing lug 42 is provided by the lower front portion of the web 34 which is formed in areceding profile relation with lug'41. The front end of lug 41 is vertical and it is provided with an aperture 411: for receiving a bolt 43. The lug 42 is somewhat shorter vertically than the lug 41 and its upper edge is separated from the lower edge of lug 41 by a deep recess 44 formed in the web 34 between these lugs. The front edge of lug 42 is vertical and a bolt receiving slot 45 is formed in this lug parallel with said front edge for receiving a bolt 46.

The unit footing structure 14 also includes upper and lower kick plates 47 and 48 which are preferably made of sheet metal constructed in the form of box channels having centrally apertured end walls 49. For simplicity in manufacture and design, the kick'plates 47'and 48 are preferably identical in construction. The upper kick plate fits neatly over the lugs 41 on footing members 32 and 33 so that the end walls 49 of this kick platefit flush againstouter faces of lugs 41 and the apertures in said'lugs line up with the apertures 41a in said. end walls for receiving bolts 43. 'Thus' these bolts, 'when inserted in place in said apertures and tightened rigidly, secure opposite ends of kick plate 47 to lugs" 41.

In a similar manner the lower kick plate 48 is adapted to be mounted on lugs 42 by inserting bolts 46 through the apertures in the end walls49 of said kick plate and then through the slots 45 in lugs 42. The bolts 46 may be left loose while the unit footing structure 14 is being leveled up by the forming and inserting of shims 40 between this structure and the floor F. When this shimming operation has been completed and the plane I of bottom faces of the unit footing structure 14 'is'level, the lower face 48a of the kick plate 48 will rest on the floor F presenting a neat, trim appearance to the lower front portion of the footing structure 14. Thus when the bolts 46 are tightened to unite opposite end walls 49 of kick plate 48 to the lugs 42, this uniting of the lower kick plate with the footing members 32 and 33 basic frames 13 secured together at various points and the bolts 28, 43 and 46 are generally employed for this purpose. The units 11 are thus held in tight abutting, aligned relation throughout the length of the cabinet 10. These bolts, of course, also serve their normal functions of holding together the various parts of each of the unit footing structures 14 and in'the case of the bolts 46, they also unite the lower kick plate 48 with the lugs 42 so as to unite this kick plate with the balance of its unit footing structure as a load bearing member thereof and in conformity with the contour of the floor F. Fig. 3 illustrates the manner in which bolts 46 perform this multiple function.

From the above description it is believed evident that the objects set forth at the opening of this specification are attained by the preferred embodiment of the present invention disclosed herein. The disclosure of only a single preferred embodiment of the invention is for exemplary purposes only and it is to be understood that various changes may be made in this without departing from the "spirit-of the in'vention or the scope of the appended claims.

The claims'are:

1. In a display unit footing structure, the combination of: a central channel member; a pair of end footing members of sheet metal channel construction, each member having a relatively-deep, flat vertical web; means for rigidly connecting the webs of said end footing members to opposite ends of said central member so as to extend parallel transversely from the latter; two substantially like upper and lower rectangular box channel kick plates, coextensive in length'with said structure, there being upper attaching lugs provided by the'front ends of said end footing webs which fit-snugly forwardly into opposite ends of the channel of said upper kick plate and are suitably securcdthereto, there being lower attaching lugs provided by front end portions of said end footing webs which are formed in a receding profile relation with said upper lugs and extend into opposite ends of the channel of said lower kick plate, the web material between said lugs being removed to give said lower kick plate'a substantial degree of vertical adjustment relative to said 7 lower lugs, and fastener means for fixing said lower kick will make this lower kick plate a load bearing member of the unit footing structure 14.

Supported on and covering the unit footing structure 14 is a lower shelf of the unit 11, this shelf being of inverted channel box structure having an inturned rear wall 56 which hooks into the angle bracket 29 and retains this shelf against displacement. The upper surface of shelf 55 may be smooth as shown in Fig. 4'in the simpler wall shelf units or it may be provided with suitable guides 57 for guiding cabinet doors 58 in the assembly on the basic frame 13 of one of the more complex cabinet units 11 shown in Fig. l.

The footing members 32 and 33 have holes 59 for accommodating electric conductors employed for wiring a multi-unit cabinet such as the cabinet 10 shown in Fig. 1. Each of the webs 34 of these footing members is also provided with keyhole slots 60 which are adapted to receive and retain the heads of screws placed in the one or the other of the finish plates 12 and 15 and, thus mount these plates on a display unit being assembled on the basic frame 13.

The units 11 of a multiple unit cabinet 10 have their plate and lugs together tightly after a desired vertical adjustment'between them-has been accomplished, said adjustment permitting said lower kick plate to be fixed to said lower lugs withthe lower edge of said lower kick plate in various-downwardly spaced relations with the respective'lower edges of said end footing members.

2. A'combination 'asain claim 1 in which said lower lugs are vertically slotted and ends of said lower kick plate are apertured and in which said'adjustable fastening means for securing said lower kick plate and lower lugs together includes two bolts one of which extends horizontally through the aforesaid slot and aperture at each end of said lower'kick plate and is actuated independently of the other bolt'in adjusting the adjacent end of said lower kick plate relative to the end footing member connected thereto.

' 3. A combination as in claim 2 in which said upper lug and kick plate are provided with apertures which are aligned when said elements are assembled as aforesaid, and two boltsone 'of which passes through and unites each of the upper lugs and the corresponding box end of said upper kick plate to unite these elements, said bolts functioning when the display units embodying said footing structure are assembled end to end, to unite said units together :by uniting the juxtaposed end footing members thereof.

4. In a display unit footing structure, the combination of: a pair of fiat end footing members rigidly united in said structure and extending transversely therefrom while disposed vertically 'edgewise in parallel relation; anupper forward kick plate uniting upper front portions of said members; a lower rearward kick plate; attaching lugs provided therefor by lower front portions of said members which lugs are formed in a receding profile relation with said upper front portions; and fastener means for adjustably securing opposite ends of said lower rearward kick plate to said lugs to optionally secure said lower kick plate to said lugs with the lower edge of said lower kick plate at various adjusted levels relative to the lower edges of said footing members.

5. A combination as in claim 4 in which said fastening means is adapted to be tightened after said footing members are shimmed up into level position to rigidly unite said lower kick plate with said members and with said kick plate also fitting the contour of the floor in a load bearing relation with said members.

6. A combination as in claim 4 in which said fastening means is disposed parallel with said lower kick plate and in which similar fastening means is provided for uniting said upper kick plate with said members and in which? UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,787,382 Williams Apr. 2, 1957 2,803,351 Wiggern Aug. 20, 1957 2,850,171 Mader Sept. 2, 1958 

